The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Apple has achieved its highest ever share in the US (53.3%) in the latest 12 weeks (ended Nov. 25. 2012), with the iPhone 5 helping to boost sales.

Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, said in a statement, “Apple has reached a major milestone in the US by passing the 50% share mark for the first time, with further gains expected to be made during December.”

Meanwhile in Europe, Samsung continues to hold the number one smartphone manufacturer spot across the big five countries, with 44.3% share in the latest 12 weeks. Apple takes second place with 25.3% share while HTC, Sony and Nokia shares remain close in the chase for third position.

Wall Street only counts global market share and says it’s more important to sell to the poverty-stricken masses. A company that doesn’t sell products to the destitute citizens of the world has zero growth potential. Profits are nothing. Market share is everything. It’s said that by 2015, Apple’s global smartphone market share will be about 10% and repeating the same Windows versus Apple scenario. In order for Apple to survive it must offer a brand new iPhone with all the high-end features for $25. Only then, does Apple have chance of defeating Android.

Disappointing for the credibility of the picayune scribes whose headlines blared damage from Mapgate and for the supply chain gang of analysts who had Apple peaked out, soon to be beleaguered—oh, how they want to reclaim that word for their arsenal of snide pronouncements in their never-ending battle to bring down Gargantua.

I think that Apple will remain a very volatile stock, whose price will be driven mostly by their quarterly results and guidance because of their philosophy. They do not wish to have a product that fits every purse and they are not out to corner a monopoly. Their goal is to create the best user experience they can and to give people what they never knew they wanted, only to find that they can’t live without it. This is a model that is foreign and, I think, anathema to Wall Street. Apple’s goals fly in the face of what’s taught at Stanford’s school of business. They do not strive for market share. They simply produce the best products they can, at margins they can live with, and let the chips fall where they may. I like their strategy as a consumer and as an investor (albeit, a long-term investor).